


Tempest

by krose240



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Cat, Confessions, First Kiss, M/M, and then adopts said cat, and then said cat plays matchmaker, because the cat is an evil adorable mastermind, childhood crush, jack finds a cat, kingcrabshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 02:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12739578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krose240/pseuds/krose240
Summary: On his way home and stuck in a complete downpour, Jack happens upon a cat and takes it upon himself to take care of it. Featuring cat-loving Jack, pushover Crow, and insomniac mechanic Yusei.





	Tempest

The rain started rather suddenly, at first barely a sprinkle but quickly escalating into a downpour, instantly soaking Jack to the bone as he sped toward the Daedalus Bridge and Poppo Time. Mentally he cursed the weather and hoped that the shower was open so he could warm up once he got home. His only saving grace was that the roads were clear, especially at this hour of the night.

Or, at least, they were until something streaked out into the middle of the road, only barely dodging Jack’s runner before disappearing into an alley.

“Shit!”

Jack pulled his runner harshly to the right, skidding to a stop on the rain-slicked roads, only barely managing not to tip his runner past the point of no return. As it stood, Jack sat, heart racing, with his right foot planted firmly on the pavement and his gaze down the nearby alleyway. Cautiously, Jack moved his runner to the side of the road and dismounted before slipping into the alley.

The rain continued to pour, making it hard for Jack to see more than a few feet in front of himself. Regardless, Jack continued, stepping cautiously and keeping an eye out for whatever it was that had raced out in front of his runner. There wasn’t much to see in the alley, aside from a few trash cans and piles of used boxes, most of which were soaked and sagging with the weight of the rain at this point. It didn’t help that the rain was nearly deafening.

“I know you’re back here,” Jack exclaimed, immediately berating himself. What was he doing, shouting into an empty alley at something that wouldn’t even understand him?

That was when he heard it, though, just barely there above the sound of the rain.

“Mew.”

Jack turned toward the sound and dropped his gaze to the ground. There, hiding inside one of those soaking wet boxes, was a cat, soaked to the bone and shivering. Slowly, Jack approached, kneeling down and offering his hand out to the poor thing. At first the cat looked apprehensive, shrinking further into the box.

“It’s alright,” Jack said soothingly, “I don’t bite.”

Jack remained still, a soft smile on his face as he kept his hand out, silently urging the cat to trust him. Slowly, the cat inched forward, cautiously sniffing at Jack’s hand. After a moment of this the cat let out another meow, but it didn’t withdraw from Jack. Carefully, Jack moved closer. The cat, in a rather trusting action, took two steps toward Jack while still remaining within the relative safety of the box.

“You’re going to get sick out here,” Jack said, frowning a bit, “come on, I’ll take you home.”

In a swift but gentle motion, Jack scooped the cat up in his arms and hurriedly stuffed it into his jacket. The cat gave a small “mew” of protest, but didn’t struggle as Jack settled it in against his chest and zipped up the jacket again, cradling the cat with one arm as he started back toward his runner.

“It’s alright,” Jack whispered, resting his chin against the cat’s little head affectionately, “you’re safe now.”

As Jack mounted his runner, he felt the cat start to purr softly against his chest and he felt a smile blooming on his lips as he started the engine and took off toward Poppo Time.

 

*****

 

Jack pulled into the garage at a little past midnight to find Yusei still fiddling with his own runner. As Jack cut the engine and dismounted, Yusei stood and wiped off the grease from his hands with a towel he had draped over his shoulder.

“You’re soaked,” Yusei said.

“And you’re still working on your runner,” Jack said, “seriously, do you ever sleep?”

Yusei pinned Jack with a look that clearly said that he had no room to talk, what with his nightly drives that could almost be categorized as religious at this point. It was at that point that Jack’s jacket decided to let loose a loud meow of protest and begin fidgeting in Jack’s grasp. Yusei raised an eyebrow.

“Jack…,” Yusei began, “did your jacket just...meow?”

Jack felt his cheeks color as he moved to unzip his jacket and reveal the cat, still dripping wet and shivering, its claws digging into Jack’s shirt for dear life as Jack readjusted his grip.

“It ran across the road in front of me and almost made me crash,” Jack explained, “I found it hiding in an alley all soaked and shivering.”

In the light of the garage, both Yusei and Jack got their first good look at the cat. Its dark fur clung to its skinny frame, but it was easy to tell that the cat was long-haired. Its chin, belly, and feet were all white while the rest of the fur was a grayish brown, done up in tabby patterning. The poor thing couldn’t have been more than ten months old and Jack felt another pang of sympathy for the cat as he examined it.

No words were shared as Yusei moved to the other end of the garage, where they kept the towels. He grabbed several off the stack and approached Jack, motioning for him to hand the cat over. Rather reluctantly, Jack passed the cat to Yusei, carefully removing its claws from his shirt. The cat itself looked rather upset at this turn of events and let out a pitiful series of meows as it was separated from Jack and pulled into a bundle of towel by Yusei.

“Go get changed,” Yusei said, gently drying the cat.

“But - “

“It’s fine,” Yusei said, offering Jack a small smile, “I’ll make sure it gets dry.”

With a sigh and a nod Jack disappeared upstairs to get changed, leaving Yusei and the cat alone in the garage. As a bit of an afterthought, Yusei moved to close the garage door before taking a seat on his work stool and resting the cat in his lap as he dried it off.

“Mrr-oow” the cat said.

“Yeah,” Yusei agreed, “I know, it’s not fun getting dried off.”

“Mow?” the cat asked.

“Jack’ll be back,” Yusei replied, “promise.”

“Meow.”

Yusei smiled and carefully extricated the cat from the towels, lifting it up to get a good look and make sure it hadn’t been hurt at all. Satisfied, Yusei swaddled it back up into the last dry towel he had grabbed and placed a gentle kiss on its head.

“Me-ow,” the cat protested.

“Is Yusei hurting you?”

Yusei glanced up, watching as Jack descended the stairs two at a time and approached. At the sound of Jack’s voice, the cat’s ears perked up and it let out another meow, this one somehow sounding pleading, as if begging Jack to rescue it from Yusei. Yusei smiled at this and stood up to offer the cat to Jack. Jack took the cat without hesitation and cradled it in his arms, cuddling its face into the crook of his neck and listening as it began to purr.

“She likes you,” Yusei said, smiling, “a lot.”

“It’s a girl?”

“Yeah. I checked when I was drying her off.”

Jack smiled at this, lifting his head from nuzzling the cat and moving so he and the cat could look at each other. The cat simply tilted her head quizzically at Jack while Jack grinned down at her.

“Tempest,” he said, “that’s your name.”

“We’re keeping her?” Yusei asked.

“Why not?” Jack replied.

“Crow’s gonna be mad that you’re bringing in more expenses for us to cover,” Yusei said.

At this, Jack simply turned Tempest in his arms to face Yusei and smirked as he replied, “You and I both know that Crow can’t say no to this face.”

As if sensing that they were talking about her, Tempest let out the smallest, cutest little “mew” of her life and Yusei could feel his resolve breaking.

“Alright, fine,” Yusei said, “we’ll keep her, but you’re in charge of caring for her.”

Jack smirked.

“Don’t think you’re fooling me,” he said, “we both know you’ll be fussing over her all the time.”

“We’ll see,” was all Yusei said before muttering a soft “goodnight” to Jack and returning to work on his runner. Without another word, Jack began back up the stairs, Tempest already asleep in his arms.

 

*****

 

To say that Crow was easy to win over would be an understatement. He had taken one look at Tempest and nearly broke into tears at how cute she was, to say nothing about how he nearly swooned when she rubbed her head against his hand, asking for pets. Yusei simply shook his head at this exchange while Jack offered him a triumphant smirk.

After a trip to the pet store, it was fair to say that Tempest had more than she would ever need to be comfortable at Poppo Time, complete with a plush purple cat bed, a matching purple set of food and water bowls, a purple collar with a jingle bell, and a purple litter box, to say nothing about the massive bags of cat food both Jack and Crow had agreed were completely necessary. They set up Tempest’s bed in Jack’s room and her food and water in the upstairs living room. The litter box wound up in an unused corner of the garage.

Tempest, for her part, took to her new home fairly quickly, though she was very much attached to Jack more so than anyone. Over the week, she slowly warmed up to Crow, but she was still a little wary of Yusei. By two weeks both Crow and Jack were regularly getting accosted by Tempest and her constant demands for affection. Yusei found it rather funny when Tempest would interrupt their work by climbing up on Jack’s shoulders or Crow’s runner and meowing for attention.

It wasn’t until three weeks later that Tempest decided to approach Yusei on her own. It was late, past midnight, and a thunderstorm had rolled in. Tempest’s appearance nearly startled Yusei out of his skin. One moment he was under Jack’s runner, tinkering, and the next he had rolled out and gotten a face full of fluffy cat. To her credit, Tempest wasn’t startled by Yusei’s gasp of surprise.

“You scared me,” he said.

“Mrow?”

“What are you doing down here? Isn’t Jack asleep?”

“Mow!”

A loud crack of thunder echoed through the garage right then and Tempest started, glancing toward the closed garage door.

“Oh,” Yusei said softly, “you’re scared of the storm, huh?”

Cautiously, Yusei reached out a hand and gently placed it on Tempest’s shoulders. For once, she didn’t shrink away from his touch and instead leaned into it, moving to curl against his side as he sat up. Almost immediately, Tempest began to purr and Yusei smiled, letting his hand rest against her comfortingly.

“I’ll bet Jack’s worried about you, you know.”

Tempest didn’t respond.

“Are you gonna get mad if I pick you up?”

Again, Tempest was silent, breathing softly against Yusei’s thigh, her eyes closed. With a sigh, Yusei carefully pulled Tempest into his arms and curled her against his chest, noting that her purr deepened as he stood. He placed a small kiss on her head before heading for the stairs and starting up.

When he reached Jack’s room, Yusei moved to knock, but his hand fell short as Jack pulled his door open, rubbing a hand across is face in an attempt to wipe the grogginess from his eyes.

“Yusei?”

Jack snapped to alertness as he caught sight of Tempest sleeping calmly in Yusei’s arms and a soft smile crept onto his face.

“So there you are,” he said, reaching to run a hand across Tempest’s back. Tempest mewed softly in response, keeping her eyes closed.

“She scared me half to death in the garage,” Yusei said, “I think she’s scared of the storm.”

Jack smiled wider at this and motioned for Yusei to hand her over. As Yusei moved to obey, Tempest let out a sad meow of protest, looking up at Yusei sadly. Yusei and Jack turned to each other, unsure what to do.

“I think she wants to stay with you tonight,” Jack said.

“She’s your cat, though,” Yusei replied, “and I’m still working on your runner.”

“It’s past midnight, Yusei,” Jack said, “go to bed, and take her with you.”

“You’re sure?”

“I mean, I’d prefer if I could sleep with her, but I don’t want to upset her,” Jack said, “she clearly wants you.”

“We could...nevermind.”

“We could what, Yusei?”

Yusei averted his gaze, a slight blush covering his cheeks. “Nevermind, Jack,” he said, “it was a dumb idea.”

“Yusei,” Jack warned.

“We could share a bed, that’s what I was gonna say,” Yusei admitted, folding fast at Jack’s tone.

Jack, to his credit, looked a lot less shocked about Yusei’s suggestion than Yusei would have expected. In fact, it looked as if Jack’s expression was one of relief.

“We could,” Jack said, matter-of-factly, though Yusei could tell there was a hint of something else there. Without another word, Jack pulled his door open the rest of the way, motioning for Yusei to come in. Jack carefully took Tempest into his arms and crawled back into the bed while Yusei removed his shoes, socks, and jacket before crawling in after. Tempest snuggled her way between the two and promptly fell asleep, leaving Jack and Yusei on either side, facing each other.

“You know,” Jack said suddenly, “had I known that all it took to get you into my bed was a cat, I’d have gotten one ages ago.”

Yusei sputtered out a laugh, though it slowly tapered off as he recognized that slight difference in Jack’s tone, that sad curve of his smile. That hadn’t just been a joke.

“Wait,” Yusei replied, “you wanted to get me into your bed? You’re interested in me?”

“God, you’re dense,” Jack remarked, rolling his eyes.

“Why are you admitting this now?”

“I’m tired,” Jack replied, “my filter is basically nonexistent right now.”

“So you’ve been keeping this to yourself? For how long?”

“Pretty much forever,” Jack admitted, “and I’d have gotten away with it too, if not for this meddling cat.”

Yusei smirked at that. “You do know that I’ve had a crush on you since we were kids, right?”

“Wait, what?” Jack asked, utterly shocked.

“God, you’re dense,” Yusei replied, smirking.

“No, you don’t get to throw my words back at me,” Jack protested, “that’s not fair.”

“Neither is pretending you aren’t interested in me.”

“Touche.”

“So…”

“So…”

“So what are we gonna do about this?” Yusei asked.

“I was hoping each other.”

“Jack!”

“Not right now,” Jack replied, “I’m tired, and there’s a cat in the way.”

“Jack.”

“What?”

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“I’m pretty sure we’re both ridiculous,” Jack said, “harboring our childhood crush for so long.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Yusei admitted, pausing a moment before adding, “you’re deny this entire conversation ever happened in the morning, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” Jack replied, “I can’t let it get out that Jack Atlas is a hopelessly romantic sap who’s been crushing on the great Yusei Fudo for basically forever. Imagine how much that would hurt my image.”

“Oh, it’d be devastating,” Yusei said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m glad you understand. Now go to sleep.”

“One more thing.”

“What now?” Jack asked. In lieu of a response, Yusei leaned in, pressing his lips gently to Jack’s. Jack smiled into the kiss, returning it before they both parted.

“Thanks for telling me,” Yuse whispered, “goodnight, Jack.”

“Goodnight, Yusei,” Jack replied.

“Mrr-ow,” said Tempest.

“And goodnight, Tempest,” Yusei and Jack said, smiling before closing their eyes and slipping off into sleep.


End file.
